Happy Endings
by Xx.anime-fanatic.xX
Summary: Sakura's remembering the day Sasuke left when Naruto tries to pair her up with Sai! Read on to see what other interesting things will follow. sasusaku, naruhina, shikaino, and so on. Rating may be subjected to change
1. epilogue

**Disclaimer: This is our first fanfic and a collaboration story (between Xx.anime-fanatic.xX and crimsonrose88)  
**

**We do not own Naruto**

Tenten leapt from tree to tree around the training grounds, throwing various projectiles at her sparring partner Neji Hyuuga, trying to find a weak spot in his defence.

"_Hakkesho Kaiten_!" Neji Hyuuga spun around as kunais and shurikens of sorts bounced off his perfect defence. Tenten, using Neji's distraction to her advantage, hid in a tree to catch her breath. '_Darn, he's way too good! I can't even manage a single hit."_ she thought. Her previous training sessions with Lee had greatly increased her attack speed, but it was hardly helpful in this situation, with Neji's Byakugan. "_Byakugan. Damn!_" Tenten turned as she felt a presence behind her. Neji stood there smirking, holding out a hand, palm up.

"_Jūken!_" Tenten raised a kunai in defence, but the force of his attack sent her reeling backwards. She stumbled and lost her balance, falling to the ground. Neji jumped lightly from the tree, landing a few feet away from her. He picked up four kunai that were lying on the ground; as Tenten got up slowly, he threw the kunai at her pinning her to a tree.

"I win." Neji said, still smirking.

"Hmph!" Tenten replied. Neji pulled the kunai free from Tenten's clothing, and helped her pick up her weapons.

"Geez Neji, it was a training session. TRAINING SESSION! You didn't have to use the Gentle fist on me," Tenten complained. The Hyuuga prodigy decided that it was best to just apologize and not provoke the weapons mistress any further.

"Gomen. Why don't we head to Ichiraku's for dinner, my treat? We have to meet Naruto and the others there anyways." suggested Neji hastily. His team mate perked up and agreed.

"_Heh, free meal from Neji! He's so predictable._" Tenten thought, smiling slightly as they headed together to Ichiraku's.

**At Ichiraku….**

"G-go for i-it, Nar-Naruto-kun! D-do you-your b-best!" Hinata quietly cheered.

"Ya! Go Chouji! Beat that shrimp's ass!" Ino roared.

Naruto and Chouji were having an eat-off with ramen at Ichiraku; the rest of the group (Kiba, Lee, Sakura, Iruka, etc) were watching and cheering them on, or doing their own things (ie in Shikamaru's case, sleeping)

"One more old man!" Naruto yelled.

"Mmph! Here too!" Chouji soon followed.

"Another one? Seriously, you guys will clean out my restaurant soon if you keep this up. It's already the 39th and 41st bowls!" The old man shook his head and went to get some more ramen, smiling at their energy. "You guys better pay up for all this!" he shouted.

"Oh shit." Naruto blinked, forgetting about the bill, then smiled. "No problem! Put it on Iruka-sensei's tab!"

Iruka blanked and fractically searched for someone else. When it was just him and Naruto, he was okay with it, but adding Chouji, and an eating contest…way out of boundaries of his budget. He saw Shikamaru sleeping on the table at the far end of the table. "Ah! Shikamaru will pay for it!"

"Huh? What?" Shikamaru said, waking up after hearing his name.

"Cool Shika-kun! I hope you're wallet's got enough money!" Ino shouted in his ear.

"Ugh, Troublesome woman. I have no idea what you're talking about. Tch. How troublesome."

Without knowing the full extent of the damage his wallet was about to take, he just nodded at Iruka and went outside to gaze at the clouds.

"Geez, Shika-kun…" Ino chased after, trying to get him to go back. Iruka just shrugged. In any case, Shikamaru was still going to pay the bill.

(In case if anyone was wondering, when Neji and Tenten srrived at Ichiraku's they saw the two gluttonous boys practically inhaling ramen and decided that it would be best if they remained unnoticed. They slipped in beside Sakura who seemed depressed for some reason and ordered their food.)

The rest of the gang had been invited to a celebratory ramen party for reasons unknown (courtesy of Naruto), and just laughed at the two and went back to watching Naruto and Chouji. They were having a fun time, packing Ichiraku's little stall to the extent where Ayame (one of the workers) had had to pull out some extra table and chairs outside for their other customers.

Lee had decided to join in the eating contest a while back when Naruto had been on his tenth bowl, saying "I SHALL EAT MORE THAN THE TWO OF YOU COMBINED! MY YOUTHFUL TRAINING WILL GET ME FARTHER THAN EITHER OF YOU! IF I DO NOT WIN, I SHALL RUN AROUND THE TOWN 20 TIMES WITH MY FEET TIED TOGETHER!" But when he was on his 5th bowl, Lee had given up.

After Naruto's 50th bowl, he hesitated as the old man placed another automatically in front of him. "I never thought I'd say this, but I don't think I can eat any more ramen."

"N-no! Naruto-to-kun! Y-you can d-do it!" Hinata cried encouragingly.

Lee jumped up at once. He had already finished his laps around the village (amazing feat, really!) "No Naruto! You must not give up! Find your power of youth and use it! YOUR YOUTH WILL ALWAYS LET YOU WIN OVER ANY OBSTACLE!" Lee's eyes turned starry and he looked like he was about to rant on about the power of youth.

Neji looked up and wondered what he had done to deserve such a teammate. "Please make him stop. I really don't need to hear more of his 'power of youth' lectures to mess up my dinner; I get enough of it when we train together as it is."

"Really?" Kiba asked curiously. "So _that's _why you and Tenten always go off to train on your own. And there I was thinking you had other reasons as well."

"Tch." Neji turned away and continued eating his ramen to hide his slight blush.

Kiba smirked at Neji's apparent shyness. He knew. In fact, just about everyone at Ichiraku's knew. Except Naruto. He was too dense and probably wouldn't have grasped that fact even if a bird flew at him with a rock which stated that Tenten and Neji were crushing on each other.

Meanwhile, Lee had started to glow with his passion for youth. "—BECAUSE GAI-SENSEI ALWAYS SAY TO BE YOUTHFU—" Tenten quickly grabbed some of Naruto's ramen and stuffed it in Lee's mouth. She heard Neji sigh in relief and smiled to herself.

"My ramen! Nobody touches my ramen!" Naruto suddenly decided he had more space for ramen and continued to slurp it at an alarming pace.

"Sorry man. I thought you were done. Chouji is." That was true, Couji had given up on the 49th bowl and was now eating chips (he has another stomach for those) beside Ino who had given up on Shikamaru.

"Nnone boushes mm mammemm" Naruto repeated while eating his ramen.

"Naruto, chill. Eat and swallow, then talk," Sakura chided him. Naruto nodded at her, then continued on devouring his beloved ramen. Sakura sighed and decided to take a walk, to get her growing headache from all the noise. She paid for her ramen, and with a smile to the old man, left quietly.

The night was pleasant. Its warm breeze blew Sakura's pink hair softly and strands of it lingered on her face before being brushed back by her hand. She wandered around the village, deciding that she didn't feel like going home yet despite the late hour. She took a detour past the academy, and as she looked at the training grounds and dark windows, she remembered when she had first become a part of Team 7. Naruto, Kakashi, her, and.Sasuke. A team which stuck together and worked in sync with each other (in her eyes), to complete any mission. A team which could always have fun together, doing just about anything. Sakura sighed again, lost in the memories which she could never get back. She absentmindedly sat down on a bench to rest her feet, before realizing that it was the same bench Sasuke had left her 2 years ago, when he left Konoha in his quest for more power.

She sighed. "That's right, today was the day he left wasn't it?" She looked up at the starry skies and let her memories wash over her.

**At Ichiraku's.**

After finishing the last bowl of ramen, Naruto really decided that he couldn't take anymore. He saw Sakura leaving and wanted to call out to her to stop. He knew she wasn't feeling alright. He wasn't as big of an idiot as everyone thought. He knew. Knew that today was the anniversary of Sasuke's departure from Konoha. That was why he had called everyone together, to try to get her mind of the unhappiness. He reached out, trying to call to her, to tell her to come back.

"Sakura-chan…" he called weakly. But it was to no avail. His eyelids were getting heavy; his hand dropped and his head lolled over. A few seconds later, Naruto was deeply asleep; the result of an over full stomach. His limp body slipped off his chair, and he fell heavily on top of Akamaru, who was dozing at the foot of Kiba's chair. Akamaru woke with a start and gave an extremely loud bark which caused everyone to jump. He struggled out from under Naruto's heavy body and began to attack him, as punishment for his rude awakening, and for him almost being killed by the idiot. Everyone (except Shikamaru who was still asleep) watched the sleeping Naruto being pummeled by Akamaru. However, after a few minutes Kiba decided that Naruto had been punished enough, and called off Akamaru. Akamaru let out one last growl before jumping into Kiba's lap to sleep safely. As the last laughs died away, the group was once again dropping off to lala-land.

"Tch, kids these days." The old man grumbled. I guess they'll just have to pay up in the morning. He said as he looked at everyone sprawled across his ramen booth.

**Alright, that's the prologue to our story! Hope everyone's enjoyed it!**

**Now please click the lil' review button. It would make us ever so happy! Oh, and constructive criticism is very much appreciated!**


	2. Ch 1: the setup

**Hi again minna! Gomenasai, it's taken us so long to finish our second chapter of Happy Endings. But rest assured, we will try to put more effort into updating faster! **

**Xx.anime-fanatic.xX****: I know it's no excuse that I went on vacation for a month and am very sorry**.

**crimsonrose 88: you better be! I've been waiting for you to get to work on it for ages.**

**Xx.anime-fanatic.xX****: butbutbut...you were busy too!**

**crimsonrose 88: mmhmm with important things. Not like you, you dunderhead! (jkx, crimsonrose is a very nice, gentle and peaceful person)  
**

**Xx.anime-fanatic.xX: Hai! I'm very sorry. Oh and yes, before we start, I'd like to say that the flasback is entirely thanks to the scanlator people cuz I took those lines off their translations. but everything else was purely made by us, I swear, well...not the characters and such...but...**

**crimsonrose 88: yes,yes, we all get it already let them get to the story already. **

**Xx.anime-fanatic.xX****: eh? oh right! sorry everyone. again!**

**crimsonrose 88: Well, enjoy!  
**

FLASHBACK OF WHEN SASUKE LEFT KONOHA

The starry night sky, the silence of it all, the tears, the emotions, and most of all, Sasuke. Sakura could remember it like it was yesterday, the pain of losing her beloved comrade as sharp as ever.

—flashback—

"…_I would do ANYTHING for you! So…Please, just stay with me… I'll even help you with your revenge…I don't know what I could do…but I'll try my best to do something…so please…stay with me…or take me with you if you can't stay here…" _ Sakura remembered her painfully long and heartbreaking monologue, the one that still couldn't convince him to stay…and his response, the ones that shattered her heart.

"_You really are…annoying."_ She remembered the way he turned his back to her, the slow footsteps that he took.

"_Don't leave! If you do, I'll scream!"_ She saw it clearly, the way that he had surprised her when he suddenly disappeared and reappeared again behind her.

"_Sakura…thank you."_ And she remembered…his agonizing last words that tore her apart and the sudden shock when he had hit her, leaving her unconscious.

—end flashback—

Sakura woke with a start, breathing ragged… and screamed. Standing over her, grinning at her with an idiotic smile on his face as if he didn't notice the proximity between their faces, was Naruto.

"BAKAAAA!!" Sakura screamed, punching him.

"OW OW OW!" Naruto fell back and clutched his head in pain. Her heart was racing, like she had just had a heart attack. She watched as he stumbled backwards and fell back on his orange-jumpsuit-covered butt. She felt slightly guilty about hitting him, but seriously, it was his fault. Nobody, and that meant nobody, was ever supposed to scare-jumpstart anybody from their sleep by standing so close. Once her heart rate returned to normal, she walked up to Naruto and pulled him up. He had a nice bruise forming on the side of his face, and winced as he tried to smile apologetically.

"Heh, sorry about that Sakura-chan…I guess waking you up like that just isn't the best way huh? Demo, I was just wondering why you were sleeping outside on the bench, since it's cold at night and all, and when you started to mumble, I wanted to hear what you were saying." Sakura didn't respond; she just walked in silence beside Naruto and tried to forget her dream. Naruto, completely unaware of her silence, continued to ramble on.

"…and so then I saw something lying on the bench, so I was curious to see who our new hobo was, and then I realized it was you Sakura-chan!" Naruto started to laugh, but stopped at the look on Sakura's face. Her eyes were narrowed and she pulled her fist back, ready to punch him again. "I mean, um, of course I knew it wasn't a hobo, because Sakura-chan, why would you be a hobo? And even if you were, you'd be a pretty hobo, not saying that you are a hobo…" He trailed off, realizing that he clearly wasn't making the situation any better.

"Eh heh, …guess I'll catch ya later Skura-chan!" He backed away, and ran back to the village. Sakura watched his retreating figure angrily. He woke her up, nearly giving her a heart attack, then had the nerve to imply that she was a hobo for sleeping on a bench? She smiled evilly. Nope, she didn't regret giving him that bruise, and at that moment she was hoping it really hurt.

Naruto was absent-mindedly fingering his bruise, but he didn't notice the pain, because he was deep in thought. He wasn't as stupid as anyone thought. Sakura was extremely upset because of Sasuke's absence; although she was as violent as ever, she had lost more and more of her usual cheer when it neared the anniversary of his departure, and wasn't very fun anymore. Naruto was also depressed, for sure, but his heart had been broken in a different way, and he had Hinata now. So Naruto, being the kind friend that he was, felt that he should try to do something to cheer Sakura up.

'And I know just what to do…. If we can't get Sasuke back, then we'll just have to find a replacement.' With that thought, he sped up and barged into his room, eager to see if his plan would work.

'Heh heh, I remember, that a long, long time ago at the academy, I had transformed myself into Sasuke, in order to get closer to Sakura' Naruto grinned at the memory, but then soured, as he realized he had gotten a huge stomach ache, rendering him incapable of talking to Sakura for more than 5 minutes, because he had to keep running to the bathroom. "TRANSFORMATION JUTSU!" In a poof of smoke, Naruto was gone, and Sasuke stood in his place. Naruto looked at himself in the mirror and smirked as he noticed he had gotten every detail of Sasuke correct, right down to the weird chicken butt hairdo. Still grinning, he jumped out his window and raced through the village looking for Sakura. After 10 minutes, he still hadn't found her, so he approached Kiba and asked him where Sakura was…all smooth, like Sasuke.

Kiba looked at him strangely and couldn't even speak, so 'Sasuke' a.k.a Naruto in disguise had to repeat himself. At that, Kiba burst out laughing and stared unbelievingly at Naruto, finally realizing what he (Naruto/Sasuke) was trying to do. He was so amused, because he noticed a major flaw in his plan…although he decided not to tell him.

"She's-she's on the bridge near the hot springs." Kiba managed to choke out. 'Sasuke' walked my looking extremely miffed. Why was Kiba laughing so much, at his genius plan? As Naruto/Sasuke left, Kiba called Akamaru and they both began to follow him, eager to see how Sakura would react.

Sakura leaned on the side of the bridge railing, and looked down at her reflection in the water; deep in thought. She found this bridge extremely peaceful since not a lot of people came through this area, mostly because the main entrance to the springs was on the other side. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching, and rubbed her eyes in confusion. There was a guy who looked extremely like Sasuke, walking towards her. She noticed that he was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit which really dimmed down his natural looks. "It certainly looks like Sasuke….but what's up with that ugly orange outfit? Is that Orochimaru's uniform?" Sakura looked curiously, and as he approached her, she noticed something really big. God she could have smacked herself for her stupidity. That wasn't Sasuke.

"Ahem…hello Sakura. I have finally realized that perhaps I don't need to leave Konoha in order to become stronger so…um…I've come back." Naruto/Sasuke was really pleased with himself when he noticed how stunned she looked.

'Hehe. In your face Kiba! I am smart…believe it! But I just thought of something. I can't be Sasuke all the time…ah well, I'll worry about that later.' Sakura was shocked, but not stupid. She obviously knew that this wasn't the real Sasuke. Clue number 1: how the heck did he return without being hauled in for questioning about Orochimaru, even if he did renounce his past actions? And perhaps the biggest clue, clue number 2: Why was Sasuke wearing Naruto's jumpsuit? Conclusion: Naruto was trying to fool her into believing that Sasuke was back.

"Well Sasuke," Sakura said sweetly, "I know that you're Naruto and you're not fooling anyone. Isn't the number one rule of being a ninja being able to effectively disguise or transform into another person? Well, I'm sorry to say that you are not able to do that yet Naruto."

Naruto pouted "Awww….Sakura-chan, how did you know? I was doing this for you, you know, because you were so sad." Sakura was touched, but had to suppress a grin when she told him how she knew.

"I may not have known Sasuke as well as I thought I did, but I'm pretty sure you would never get him to wear that orange jumpsuit of yours, even if you paid him a million dollars." she whispered in his ear.

She flounced away and left Naruto standing there. He looked down, and remembered that he forgot to change his clothes into something more Sasuke-like. A shout of laughter reached his ears, and he looked up to see Kiba laughing his head off. Naruto thought back, and understood why Kiba was laughing when he first asked him where Sakura was. Naruto changed back into himself and walked up to Kiba, with a smile on his face.

"Laugh now Kiba, but when I make Sakura happy again, I'm gonna be the one who's happy." Naruto said smugly. Kiba's laughter died down, and he looked curiously at Naruto. Naruto had his 'I have a back-up plan' face on.

"Hey Kiba, if I couldn't become Sasuke, then why don't we find someone similar to Sasuke and have Sakura go out with them? Then, she'll realize that Sasuke's not as good, since he's not here, so then she will love the new guy, and be happy!" Naruto's face was lit by an ecstatic smile, but Kiba merely looked amused.

"I see another flaw, genius. Who are you going to get to replace Sasuke? He's practically one of a kind, which is why all the girls seem to like him so much." Naruto's smile did not falter.

"I know, but I have the perfect person in mind. If you wanna help, then come with me to their house. You'll see exactly how perfect he is." Kiba shrugged and followed Naruto. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, and besides curiosity only ever killed the cat, not the dog, right?

10 minutes later, they both arrived at a small apartment building, a little way from the main village. Kiba had never visited this place before, and wondered who lived there. At first, he half expected Naruto to go after Neji or something, but clearly he had another plan. Naruto raised his hand and knocked the door. A few seconds later, the door opened, and there stood….Sai. "What do you want, idiots?" Kiba's mouth dropped.

'SAI? That's the guy who's similar to Sasuke? They are nothing alike… ok, maybe something alike, but that's beside's the point! They are totally different…I think I had better hide Naruto's ramen from now on, its giving him brain problems; he certainly doesn't need anything else on top of his hyperactive nature.' Naruto grinned happily.

"Sai! You're just the person I need to help me. See, there's this person, who's really sad because this guy left, and since you look like the guy I was wondering if you would help me and go out with the girl so that she would feel better and be happy and forget about the other guy, since he left and all, and then she will be happy and I will be happy and then we will all live happily ever after!" Naruto said this all very quicky, and breathed deeply at the end.

Kiba stared at Naruto. 'What the heck did he just say? He was talking so fast, and it was so confusing.' Sai blinked a couple of times and proceeded to shut the door, after saying an emotionless "No". But Naruto would not be deterred. Lucky for him, he knew a secret of Sai's; he bet a bowl of ramen that Sai wouldn't like it if other people knew.

"Blackmail is awesome!" "Sai, I think you do want to help us, or else I will tell a certain someone that…" Naruto whispered the rest in Sai's ear. Sai's face became extremely blank. "…Fine,…I'll go out with this girl." Sai shuddered on the inside; he wasn't the type of person who would go on a date with random girls, heck, he wouldn't even date a girl.

"Good! Sakura will meet you um…at Ichiraku's at around 6 pm" Kiba turned to Naruto.

"Why Ichiraku's? I don't know if you've noticed, but that's not really a place you go on a date to. Maybe dinner, but I guess in your case you could go on a date there." Kiba smirked and walked away with Naruto.

"Now, we have to go to Sakura's place, and tell her about the date!"

Kiba laughed, "After this morning, do you actually think she's going to want to go out on a date that you suggest? She'll probably think the guy is you in disguise or something, although if you wear your orange jumpsuit, you can tell." Kiba laughed at the recollection, and Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"…But he does have a point." Naruto took paper and a pencil out of one of his many hidden pockets and wrote a message:

_Dear Sakura,  
I have always admired you and think that you are a really nice girl. I want to get to know you better, so why don't we meet at Ichiraku's at around 6 pm? We may be going out somewhere special, so wear something kind of formal. Counting the hours,  
Mystery man 3_

Kiba read the note and raised an eyebrow. "Mystery Man?" he repeated, "It sounds like a stalker or something, why don't you just write 'Secret Admirer'?" Naruto crossed out the words mystery man and changed it to 'Someone'

"There! Now, we just have to throw this into Sakura's window, and then go back to Sai's before their big date!" Naruto looked extremely hyper, and bounced over to Sakura's house, with Kiba shaking his head in amusement behind him. Naruto saw that Sakura was eating lunch, so he took the note, threw it in the window, grabbed Kiba and ran.

"Sai's!" Naruto ran off and returned once more to Sai's place, with Kiba close on his heels. Sai opened the door, and blinked once he saw who it was. Naruto's face grew solemn.

"Ok Sai, I know what Sakura likes, and she likes boys who have emotions….so, before your date with Sakura, Kiba and I are gonna teach you how to become an emotionful person!" Naruto dragged Sai back into his apartment, and pushed him onto the couch.

All the while Sai was just thinking, 'Emotionful? I bet that's just a word from Naruto's idiot dictionary in his nut-sized brain. Ah god this is torture, hope to get this over with soon…then I can go back to my beloved deceased brother's picture book.'

"Ok, so before we start, I want to know if you have any emotion at all, that you've uncovered. So, we're gonna ask some questions and you have to respond truthfully ok?" Sai sighed and nodded grudgingly. "Stupid Naruto…if only I had been more careful, he wouldn't have had blackmail and I wouldn't be doing this ridiculous thing." Naruto scribbled a few questions on paper, and gave them to Sai to answer.

1. If you saw a baby who was crying, what would you do?  
Ignore  
2. If a guy called you stupid, what would you do?  
Walk away  
3. If you found out that your closest friend had died, what would you do?  
I have no friend  
4. If you got kissed by a really cute girl whom you really liked, what would you do?  
I don't love  
5. If you saw your rival with the above girl what would you do?  
I don't think of girls in that manner  
6. If you were locked in a haunted house, and found a dead body in the closet, what would you do?  
I don't fear the dead  
7. If your life was as perfect as you could have hoped for, what would you feel?  
My life is not perfect  
8. If I told you that there were only 2 more questions after this one, what would you feel?  
I wouldn't feel anything  
9. If your teacher gave you a really complex technique, and it was taking a long time to master, how would you feel?  
My techniques are self-made  
10. Um, I can't think of a tenth question…response?...

Naruto took the paper and read the answers to Kiba. They both realized that they had a lot more to teach Sai about emotions than they had thought. Naruto glanced at the clock. It was already 3 pm. That meant they had about 3 more hours to teach Sai before he had to meet Sakura.

5:55 pm  
Kiba and Naruto lay on the couch, exhausted. After many dog bites, Harem no Jutsu's, transformations into various girls to teach Sai how to act around girls, many insults and an incident in which Naruto spiked Sai's water with something that would make him hyper, they finally concluded that Sai was a hopeless case. Obviously they couldn't force him to have emotions, but they did manage to make Sai less bitter and insensitive, so that was a start, right?

"Wow…I hope Sai really finds a girl soon. That's probably the best way to have emotions. Three hours and we barely came through." Kiba said wearily. Naruto opened his eyes slightly and smirked as he saw Sai come down the stairs. They had completely transformed him. His hair was lightly gelled off his forehead, and he had fully covering clothes, that looked sophisticated and elegant, courtesy of Neji who had come by to see what all the cursing was about. He also wore a cracked smile on his lips, which looked extremely painful for him.

Naruto got up and smiled really big. "I approve! You look excellent and I think Sakura will be completely blown away when she sees you! But lose the smile, it looks creepy and unnatural." Sai dropped the painful smile, and instantly looked much more natural and handsome. "Now let's GO!" Naruto chivvied Kiba and Sai out of the apartment and dragged them to Ichiraku's.

**Alright, we hope everyone's enjoyed this chapter of Happy Endings! Look forward to our next chapter, where we get to the nice date! or maybe not so nice... but all the same, it will be...well...um...an interesting? date. well, the total idea's not set yet so any tips will be appreciated! So R&R please.Ciao!**


	3. Ch 2: The date

Sakura stood outside Ichiraku's at exactly 6 pm

Recap: In an attempt to cheer his pink-haired friend up, Naruto had forced Sai to go on a date with Sakura, as a replacement Sasuke. And now, let's see how their date will turn out with a reluctant Sai and suspecting Sakura shall we? Not to forget the ever present Naruto and Kiba checking up on their new and improved Sai as well.

Sakura stood outside Ichiraku's at exactly 6 pm. It wasn't that she was actually looking forward to her 'blind date' (well maybe she was a little bit) but mainly, she had decided to do this for pure entertainment and to see what Naruto had set up this time around. After all, the whole mystery note only had her baffled for about a minute; she wasn't stupid. She could see Naruto's idea written all over that piece of paper.

'_Well, I'm all dressed up like the note instructed me to. Now what_?' she thought. For the 'date' she had her hair clipped back, leaving just a few strands of hair to frame her face. She wore a pink skirt that reached a bit above her knees with a slit up the side of her thigh, decorated with a pattern of green leaves, a purple tank top which showed off her nice figure covered with a loose and unbuttoned blouse, and stylish knee high boots.

As the sky began to darken, more and more people started walking by her into Ichiraku's. She watched couples taking a stroll down the street, lost in their own little world, and friends that were having a grand time doing nothing at all, just laughing their heads off for no apparent reason.

After half an hour had passed, she started to become very impatient, and leaned against the side of the booth. '_Why did I go along with this again? Oh yeah, so Naruto would stop thinking I'm depressed and get off my back…but still, can't he have the decency to come up with something that would actually work?' _During the wait, Sakura's mind kept her occupied with loads of random thoughts, and with 'stupid Naruto' popping up here and there.

Sakura sighed for the millionth time as a small gust of wind blew past her and thought, '_I must look so stupid standing out here on my own…what happened to whoever I was supposed to be meeting here_?' No sooner had that thought crossed her mind, she heard a loud voice call her name. She looked around, and saw Naruto waving enthusiastically at her. "All right, looks like its finally time…" she mumbled under her breath. As Naruto approached, she noticed two people trailing behind him; Kiba and Sai. Kiba was dragging Sai by the arm, as Akamaru barked beside him, trying to aid his struggling master. Sai looked less than happy and stared resentfully at Naruto, who was oblivious to this, and looked sorely tempted to go into Ichiraku's if his twitching motions were any indication. Sakura straightened; smoothing out her skirt and adjusting her blouse, while watching Kiba struggle with Sai.

'_Must…resist…ramen! I have a mission to complete, and if I cannot then I won't be suitable to become the Hokage!_' This thought chased Naruto's ramen cravings out of his mind, allowing him to run straight to Sakura without being distracted. He gave Sakura a really cheerful smile, trying to cover up the fact that they were 45 minutes late. Sakura just gave him a look which showed that she wasn't fooled. Looking back, he noticed that Kiba and Sai weren't behind him; Kiba was struggling with Sai, who was walking as slow as he possibly could. Eye-rolling with impatience, Naruto created a couple of clones, who jumped on Sai and half-dragged, half-carried him to Sakura. Sakura was watching all this with raised eyebrows, and an air of bemusement. '_I'm guessing Sai's the 'someone' then._' She felt slightly offended though, since he was putting a lot of effort into getting away. '_I'm not that bad…' _With a last push by Naruto and his clones, Sai was beside Sakura. Sai straightened and looked back at Naruto, who just grinned and waved, pulling Kiba away.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Kiba asked quietly.

"Follow them of course! That boy needs serious help, so we need to make sure that he doesn't do anything to mess up the date. It's important for Sakura to see that there are other guys who are just as good as Sasuke." Naruto whispered. Kiba nodded in agreement.

One second went by. _Tick_. Another. _Tock_….ticktockticktockticktock….

"Oh #!" Naruto cursed under his breath.

"What's up now?" Kiba asked his spying partner, rather surprised at his expanded vocabulary of colourful words. Though Kiba suspected that Naruto didn't even know what the words meant…

"Man, I totally forgot about my date with Hinata-chan! She's gonna be upset..."

"Really? Don't worry, I'm pretty sure Hinata won't mind…"

"No! I have to go to Hinata –chan! I don't want her to be upset! I leave things here to you Kiba! Sayonara!" And with that, Naruto raced off down the street...then did a 180 and doubled back.

"On second thought, I'll take Hinata to the places we've mapped out for Sai…I'll still be watching so you won't be alone, okay? Okay! Bye!" Then he was really gone.

"…Okay," Kiba stared after Naruto's retreating figure, and wondered why he was the only one who didn't have a date tonight. _"Oh well, this should be…interesting…I think._' Akumaru barked in agreement to Kiba's thoughts. "Shhh boy! You can't make any sounds tonight okay?" He whispered gently, patting Akamaru's back. Geez, for a person who was only curious, Kiba was really getting into the whole date spying thing.

-with Naruto and Hinata-

"Hinata-chaaaannn!" Naruto called out to his blue haired, pale eyed, long-time girlfriend.

"Sorry I'm late!" He panted as he got to her, waiting patiently on a bench. She smiled and turned to her beloved.

"It's okay Naruto-kun…Where shall we head to?"

"Umm….Ichiraku's!" Hinata smiled at the obvious response and giggled as a loud rumble erupted from his stomach.

-with Sakura and Sai (and Kiba)-

"Ano…so what are we going to do first?" Sakura asked, a bit shy (weird, yeah) and angry at Sai. After all, he had not once complimented her on her looks (not that she cared, but it was something that he should have done, right?) and was still looking highly uncomfortable! God! She knew she really wasn't that bad and his unnervingly still presence was making her fidgety.

"Sai…compliment Haruno and take her in to Ichiraku's. We went over this already, now go!" Kiba whispered from behind a nearby bush. Sai sighed and obliged. He put on his painful smile, remembered to be polite and did as he was told.

"Sakura-san, you look wonderful tonight. Shall we start off with dinner here?" Sakura smiled at the effort, not being fooled a bit and nodded.

-back to Naruto-

"Yosh! Let's go eat some ramen!" Naruto was humming while he walked down the street with Hinata, in his happy place. Then he saw Sai and Sakura heading in to eat too. 'Yosh! Perfect timing!' He gave himself a cool guy pose and dragged Hinata in to Ichiraku's. Unknown to her, she was going to see a lot more of Sai and Sakura tonight.

"Oh wow! It's Sakura-chan! What a pleasant surprise! A coincidental coincidence! Are you and Sai on a date as well? Oh I know, let's have a double-date tonight!" Naruto said in a breath so that no one could stop him. The others sighed and agreed, Sai knowing that it couldn't be helped, Sakura because she knew what Naruto was up to and was amused, and Hinata because well, she was Hinata. Behind the bush, Kiba smacked his forehead.

'_God Naruto. You sure know how to come in subtly. Baka_.' Akumaru nodded in consent. "Guess it can't be helped. Looks like we'll just have to stay to make sure things don't go too wrong."

Everything seemed fine, if not a little more than awkward. Naruto, in between his bowls of ramen, kept trying to bring up a conversation in the group, which never worked…they all died after one or two responses, no matter how lively he tried to be. So the awkward dinner ended, with Sai paying the bill (only because both Naruto and Kiba kept reminding him throughout the whole dinner every five seconds). '_Naruto's going to be begging for his life afterwards…70 bowls…Naruto's making a lot of enemies now isn't he? _Sakura thought slightly amused.

"So, Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, how about we go dancing tonight?" Naruto asked. "There's a good club open and…"

Sakura burst out in laughter, trying to imagine Naruto and Sai dancing. **(A/N: Don't worry, it won't burn your eyes, just a pretty funny image. With the stoic Sai who'd be rigid like a robot and the super hyper Naruto…) **'_I suppose this is why I'm supposed to be dressed nicely I guess_.' She thought, trying to compose herself; she was getting weird glances from the others.

"Ano…N-Naruto-kun…how about the festival happening i-in the neighbourhood around my place?" Hinata suggested shyly.

"Hmm…change of plans then. Let's go to the festival! Sakura-chan isn't much of a dancer anyway… WAHHH!" He shouted as he flew away from the impact of her punch.

"Scary, violent woman…no wonder she doesn't get dates." Sai muttered under his breath.

"Oh! Poor Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered, sweat dropping. Behind her, the bush sighed once again.

-At the festival-

In preparation for the festival, Sakura and Hinata had decided to change into kimonos and honestly, they were gorgeous. Sakura had on a dark pink based kimono patterned with dark blue flowers and a light green obi. She had pinned her hair up on both sides, leaving a few strands to frame her pace and fall back around her neck. Hinata wore a baby blue kimono decorated with pale yellow lilies and a violet obi. Sakura had helped her clip up all her shoulder-length hair, making her look cute and innocent. The guys looked pretty handsome in their yukatas too, though Naruto did manage to pick out a colour that didn't exactly go well with his hair colour-it made him look like a yellow banana or something. But on the other hand, Sai chose one which matched his looks, and accented his handsome looks.

"Wow, Hinata-chan, you look beautiful! And you didn't even take fifteen minutes to get ready!" Hinata blushed her thanks. Naruto glanced at Sai who didn't even seem fazed with Sakura and elbowed him.

"You look very nice…like Naruto in the morning." Sai said to Sakura, just to piss Naruto off. Sakura however, didn't hear him since she was already too busy looking at all the festival booths.

"Watch it, teme," Naruto warned. Hinata glanced at her boyfriend, then decided to let them talk out whatever the problem was as she went to join Sakura.

"Um…hi, Sakura-san…h-how has your day been?" Hinata asked politely.

"With or without Naruto butting in almost every hour?" Sakura replied with a laugh, as she concentrated on catching the goldfish. "Oops, I broke the net again…gomenasai," she said to the booth manager. Hinata watched as Sakura talked and laughed and wondered what Naruto had been doing the whole day with her. It wasn't that she disliked Sakura, but she was getting sort of…upset?

'_Oh, what is wrong with me? I have these unpleasant feelings towards Sakura-san! She hasn't done anything wrong, but Naruto, he just hung out with her so much, it seemed like he had almost forgotten all about me_.' The whole time this date too, he had been focusing on Sakura and her date, it felt like Hinata was almost invisible to him throughout the most part. Hinata was torn between her horrid feelings. Today was supposed to be joyful no? Naruto and her were on a date, even if he didn't pay a lot of atten… Hinata felt her sadness wash over her, and her eyes began to tear.

"Ah, Sa-sakura-san… ex-excuse me for a minute pl-please… I'll be going to the re-restroom for a b-bit…" and she ran off, leaving a pretty confused Sakura.

'_I wonder why Hinata-chan looked like she was about to cry.'_ Sakura thanked the booth manager while she walked back to Sai and Naruto, a small goldfish in hand. Sakura got the feeling that whatever her intuition was telling her about what was bothering Hinata was right. At that moment, she felt like she ought to go comfort Hinata, but as she looked back at her long time teammate, she knew that it would be better if Naruto went himself.

"Hey, Naruto," she called out. "Hinata-chan-" she got pushed to the side by a heavily drunk Jiraiya and the Hokage. "What the…" she pondered what the two old Sannins were doing so drunk but she knew it would be better not to ask. In any case, Naruto seemed to have gotten the gist of her worried tone and had already split himself with his clones to go look for Hinata…geez he did care about her a lot.

-with Kiba-

Kiba had unknowingly fallen asleep behind one of the takiyaki booths by the entrance of the festival (haha, silly him), and was startled when Tsunade and Jiraiya bumped into the booth, shaking him awake. He looked around and saw Akamaru nibbling on the takiyaki that the booth owner had given him, and his eyes followed the old pair of ninjas as they walked towards Tsunade's office, stumbling occasionally over air in their drunken state. He wondered what they were going to do for a brief second before he remembered his major task at hand and hurried off to look for Naruto and the others. It didn't take him too long to bump into one of Naruto's shadow clones.

"Naruto? What's the matter?"

"I've got to find Hinata-chan! I think she's upset over something." He replied worriedly.

"Calm down." Naruto took a few deep breaths. "Now think about what you've done with Hinata today that could've made her upset." Naruto thought about it...

"Actually, I can't remember having done much with her at all today, so there can't be anything to be mad about, but it has to have been bad, I mean, Hinata-chan is usually so nice and forgiving…"

"Woah, back it up, what did you say earlier?"

"I said that Hinata-chan is usually so nice and for-"

"No, everyone already knows that. I meant before that, what did you do with her today?"

"Oh, Nothing…"

"That's exactly it. Maybe Hinata felt left out since you weren't exactly paying her a lot of attention today."

Naruto mused over what Kiba said and finally figured out the problem. "Oh…"

"Well, what are you still standing around for? Go talk to her and tell her you're sorry. Knowing how she is, Hinata will forgive you for sure."

Naruto nodded his thanks then ran off to find Hinata again.

"Heh, I'm good. I should get paid for my counseling…but I better check up on Sai right now. Who knows how much damage he could've done by now? Let's go Akamaru!" With that, he sped off in the opposite direction with Akamaru eagerly following behind him.

-with Sakura and Sai-

Sakura had decided to not interfere, and let Naruto and Hinata talk it out. She knew it would work out in the end, but in case of the tiny point five percent that Hinata would want to break up, she wondered how Naruto would hold up. She really hoped they would last, since Naruto was calmer around Hinata; the Hyuuga girl also stuttered and stammered less due to Naruto's outgoing influence, which made her seem more confident. It really worked out for the both of them well, so it should stay that way.

"Sai let's visit that booth next 'kay? How about you try to get me a prize with the water guns? Not that it'd be a challenge for you…" She pointed to a random booth, and laughed lightly, pushing him towards it. '_I wonder why I'm trying so hard to make him work with this date? I guess Naruto's feelings are getting to me; I am feeling back to myself a lot more._' Sakura thought. She turned around to look at what was going on in the booth opposite her, when she saw a flash of onyx hair styled like a chicken butt…

She stared. '_That hair…Sasuke? No it can't be…there's no way he'd be back, but I have to make sure.' _Sai looked up in surprise as she dropped his arm, which until a second ago she had been pulling enthusiastically.

"…Sakura…?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, I'll be right back Sai, ladies' room you know?" With a quick wave, she quickly dashed off to the place among the crowd where she had seen the familiar hair.  
She pushed her way past the throng of people, but it was no where to be seen. Not to be deterred, Sakura decided to look in nearby shops, booths and random streets. She saw a popular restaurant and decided to take a look inside, wandering around the tables for a bit, eyes alert to any sign of the onyx hair. Just as she was about to give up, she looked into the last table booth hopefully, only to have her mouth drop in astonishment. Her heart raced, and she stood transfixed. _'Well, looks like it was Sasuke indeed. And…looks like he's found another girl…'_ Sakura realized that tears were beginning to form in her eyes, so she quickly ran back into the crowd, and just let the people push her along as she tried to hide the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.

Sakura had never fully understood how insignificant a person could feel when they were 'alone in a crowd', as she let her seemingly unexplainable despair engulf her, leaving her alone in the darkness, not noticing anyone else's presence.

-what Sakura had seen-

"Sasuke-kunn…" The red haired Karin was sprawled entirely over Sasuke, slightly drunk and traced a finger on the skin Sasuke's shirt failed to cover. She leaned in closer, and rested her head on Sasuke's chest, with a smile of contentment on her face…and that was where Sakura and run off

-Sasuke-

Sasuke barely paid attention to Karin, who was trying so hard to capture his attention. His mind was preoccupied more on the fact of what he was going to do in Konoha, than on Karin. However, he did hear from his preoccupied state a quiet gasp and a door shutting quickly. He looked up just in time to catch a wisp of pink hair leaving…wait, pink hair?  
'_Damn…looks like I'm a little drunk. What on earth did Karin do? I didn't even notice her come in…_'Sasuke closed his eyes to clear his thoughts, and pushed Karin off his lap, claiming he needed some air.

"Don't be too long…I hate it when you have to leave me." Karin whispered protectively. He ran a hand through his hair, and stepped out onto the cool, breezy streets; it was his turn to play 'find the hair'.

-Sai-

Sai wasn't stupid. He waited for almost two hours before Sakura had gone back to him, her eyes giving away the fact she had been crying. While he didn't know what had caused it, he felt a twinge of emotion, and wanted to make her feel better. After all, he was on their Team Seven, Sakura had been nice to him…and he didn't want to go through hell with Naruto and Kiba again, that was for sure. Sai straightened up from the bench he had been sitting on, and faced the dispirited girl.

"Sakura-san, come with me please." He took her to an open area where many of Konoha's young children were playing with paper lanterns, and led her to a flat rock on the edge of a small decorative pond.

"Sai, what are we doing here?" Sakura had long put on a fake smile that wasn't fooling anyone. Sai took out a small pad of paper and started drawing. Sakura gasped when she saw the end product. He had drawn a picture of the scenery before them, and at the foreground, a beautifully cheerful Sakura.

"Sai, it's beautiful." She turned to look at him with appreciation clear in her eyes.

"I hope you remotely resemble that expression when I see you the next time, or I will be forever stuck calling you ugly." He smiled a surprisingly sincere smile.

Her nice expression vanished, and she looked at him with narrowed eyes. '_He really knows how to kill a mood…but that was kind of sweet, in a strange kind of way.'_ Before Sakura could do any damage, Sai stood up and extended his hand to her tentatively.

'_Time to try out something those guys taught me earlier I guess. At least she's more spirited now' _Sai thought.

Sakura thought she saw a tiny smile on Sai's normally expressionless face; stunned, she gave him her hand. He pulled her up and they walked back to the festival booths, in a light conversation with silences that kept them both at ease.

An hour later, they decided that they had enough prizes from the game booths for three generations and started to head back.

"Well Sai, I had a pretty nice time tonight. Thanks for everything." She waved his earlier drawing at him, slipped it inside her kimono, plucked a cute teddy out of the many bundles in his arms and on his back and left, leaving a very stunned Sai loaded with prizes of all sorts at the entrance of the festival.

"…Ok, then…now to get rid of these plushy toys." He was already getting funny and amused glances, from people who must have thought he was a serious booth-game player.

Without so much as a backward glance at Sai, Sakura ran off, chuckling at her thoughts of what Sai would do with all the teddies, random plastic toys, etc. She turned a corner and ran into Kiba.

"Kiba! What are you doing here?" she demanded accusingly.

"Shh! Don't be so loud," he said, and pointed a bit further down the deserted road where Hinata and Naruto were hugging.

"Ohhh, I won't interrupt them then." she said, and then turned down a side road which would be a detour to her destination.

-what had happened with Naruto and Hinata-

Naruto (the original one, not his clones) had found Hinata just outside the festival, quietly crying to herself. He called back all his clones, then went up to his shy girlfriend.

"Hinata-chan?" he asked tentatively as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder, not wanting to scare her. Unfortunately that didn't work. Hinata still jumped a bit, startled.

"Hinnata-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked again.

"N-nothing's wron-wrong…" Hinata stammered.

'_Phew that's a relief_,' Naruto thought. '_Ahh wait, no, Hinata-chan's upset. She's probably lying! Wah! Hinata-chan can lie! The world's going to turn upside down. Wait, that's not the issue here Naruto, as the future Hokage, it's the least you can do to calm your own girlfried down when she's obviously not herself. Kiba's already told you the reason, you just have to talk it out._' (**A/N: Yes, he tends to rant…even in his head.**)

Naruto gently hugged Hinata. "Hinata-chan, you don't have to talk if you don't want to. I'll talk this time." He drew in a breath.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan. You're very important to me, and when we got together, I was really happy you know? I guess I sorta took you for granted today, not because you're any less important to me, but because I was just worried for Sakura-chan. And I also know that you understood that, which was why you didn't complain. But that's no excuse for the way I was ignoring you and your feelings today. Gomenesai."

Naruto let out a breath of air when he was done with his long apology and dropped his head beside Hinata's as he felt her sobs ebb away. He tugged his arms a little tighter around her and they stayed like that for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Then Hinata pried herself away from Naruto, and faced him.

"I-I'm sorry too, Naruto-kun. I know you were just trying to help out Sakura-chan, demo…I-I was really looking forward to today's da-date…and I guess I got a little jealous and upset of all the a-attention that Sakura-chan was re-receiving from you. Gome-."

Naruto silenced her with a kiss. They pulled away moments later, Hinata blushing a bright red. "Hinata-chan, you're always the number one girl in my heart, and I'm sorry if I led you to believe otherwise. I'm glad you feel that deeply for me, as I feel the same way about you…and that will never change. Aishiteru, Hinata-chan, remember that okay? Aishiteru. Anyways, there's still plenty of festival time left, so let us enjoy ourselves, just you and me. I'm sure Kiba can handle everything on his own, with Sakura and Sai." Naruto grinned and pulled Hinata in for another kiss, then they walked together back to the festival; hearts lighter, and more loving of each other.

-back with Sakura-

Sakura had walked up to a large secluded clearing on the edge of Konoha village, just a little bit in from the bordering forest. It was where she had always gone whenever she was sad, or just needed some time to herself. There was a large Sakura tree there that she had always liked; it gave her a beautiful view of the full moon and starry skies. She walked up to the great tree and sat down on its trunks, resting in a comfortable niche she had made from all her previous visits.

"It's a good thing that Naruto and Hinata-chan made up. Sai gave me a wonderful time too, even though I'm sure it was not his original intention. And Sasuke…looks like he's moved on. Though I'd never have thought he would find a girl he actually liked. She must be something really special; she must have had that 'something' I was missing all along. I guess I never lost my love for him, but it was always clear that I wasn't meant to be with Sasuke; I never was and I never will be." She stared up at the moon, tears shining in her eyes once again; her thoughts on Sasuke, and everything she had done in the past to make him like her. Her mind ran over her feelings and emotions, as she kept thinking to herself that she wasn't good enough for Sasuke.

Once she had exhausted her tears and her mind was empty, she leaned back into the comfortable niche, and slowly drifted to sleep under the branches of the Sakura tree; unaware of the dark and silent figure sitting atop one of its many branches.


	4. Ch 3: Happenings at the Festival

"Wow Ino

**crimsonrose88: **Sorry for the long wait!! (bows at feet) This chapter basically takes you into the view of the other characters of Naruto, whom we haven't seen much of, since the…uh…prologue, or not even then. Wow. So yes, this is a chapter dedicated to them, and to you, our wonderful reader (aww!) So read, enjoy and review please!

**Xx.anime-fanatic.xX:** Wow, she's really hyped about this, so unlike her…well, it's all thanks to some wonderful reviews that we got, it really inspired her to pick it up and write. And we don't own Naruto, now on with the story!

Chapter 3: Happenings at the Festival (AN: I think this is the same one that the others went to, just at a different location at the time so they never bumped into each other)

"Wow Ino! That kimono looks really nice on you. Purple really is your colour!" Ino turned around to look at herself in the mirror, and smiled in happiness. She'd used some of her hard earned money to splurge on a special kimono, especially for this festival. The sleeve billowed and the hem of the kimono was decked out in a slim lining of gold decorations. The material itself was decorated with shimmering silver outlines of butterflies and in general, just made Ino look even more flattering than she usually did. Across the room, Tenten sat at Ino's dresser, carefully placing ornaments in her hair. She wore a simple red kimono that somewhat mimicked a traditional Chinese dress with phoenix and flower patterns embroidered all over it.

"Oh, by the way Tenten, did you tell Neji to come to my place? Because Shikamaru said he'd come at around 6 pm, so it'll be perfect for Neji to come around then too!"

Tenten looked down. "I couldn't find him actually. I went over to the Hyuuga compound, but Hanabi-chan said that he'd already left. So then I looked around for him at the training grounds, and all his other usual haunts, but no luck. He probably had to go on a last minute mission or something…but I was really looking forward to going to the festival with him." Tenten closed her eyes, then looked back at her reflection in the mirror. In it, she saw a slender figure all dressed up for no reason, and she had put a large portion of her weapons away too. Yet, nobody would be there to admire and appreciate the effort she had put into dressing up nicely. Ino looked at her with understanding for the girl's sorrow.

"Aww…I'm sorry about that. But you don't have to go dateless! I think Shika-kun is bringing Chouji, so you can go with him, and we can all have fun together!"

Tenten internally winced. '_Chouji…it's not that I don't like him or anything, but that's only as a fellow Konoha ninja, a teammate…even a friend, but not, well…a deep relationship kind of friend…I don't think he's exactly my type…and when you compare him to Neji, he's as different from him as can be.'_

"Oh, no Ino that's ok! Really! I'm sure Chouji would rather go with someone else, and besides, I'd rather go alone, you know, to uh, to have the freedom of uh, going wherever I want, whenever I want, without anyone to tell me what to do, or to follow me."

Ino raised her eyebrows, recognizing the reasons behind Tenten's pretty pathetic excuses. "Oh, come on Tenten…he's not THAT bad! He's pretty sweet once you get to know him." replied Ino as she styled her hair. Tenten smiled apologetically and, with a last adjustment to her kimono, went downstairs, not bothering to argue with the other girl; she wouldn't be able to win so it would be best to leave it at that.

At exactly 6 o clock, the two girls were waiting in anticipation in Ino's living room. Tenten was reading some magazines, and Ino was tensed, with her thoughts running in a million directions. "_Will Shika like my kimono? Will he thinkthat it's too girly? Does he like the colour purple? What if he doesn't like my hair? What will he be wearing? Will our colours match? What should I eat at the festival? What if I make a fool out of myself? How the heck is my brain big enough to process all these thoughts at once?"  
_

An hour and a half later, Tenten had finished reading all the magazines Ino owned, and was playing with a personalized rubik's cube Neji had given her for her birthday; it had her team's faces on it, plus the pictures of a scroll and a bird, instead of colours. Ino held a pillow nervously, her brain not giving up anytime soon.

"Finally! Its about time!" Tenten exclaimed happily.

"What? What? Are they here? Did you hear them? Should I get the door?" Ino jumped up and looked at Tenten intensely.

"Huh? No, I just solved the cube." Tenten looked a little confused, but held out the cube proudly.

Ino sat back down, and sighed. "Sorry Tenten, I guess I'm a little nervous. I want look perfect for Shikamaru, but every time I say to myself that he probably won't care how I look, I get more doubts."

Tenten smiled. "Shikamaru likes you for who you are, and besides you look amazing. I doubt Shikamaru will even care what you are wearing. He's not really into fashion and all that; besides it will be dark by the time he comes over here. Now you should stop fidgeting or you really will wear off and kill all the efforts you put into looking extra gorgeous."

Ino realized she didn't need to splurge on a kimono; Shikamaru was just one of those special guys who would love her even if she wore Naruto's orange jumpsuit-not that she ever would. EVER. With that thought in her head, she lost her tension, and took the magazines Tenten had left on the couch to read.

An hour later (8:30 pm), after Tenten had solved the cube a couple more times and polished all the weapons she had on her thoroughly and Ino was done doing all the different love quizzes she could find in the magazines, when the two of them were going out of their minds with boredom, a knock sounded on the door. They looked at each other, then at the clock, and smiled in relief to each other. They were beginning to think that they had been forgotten. Ino reached the door first, and pulled it open smoothly, her brightly lit face dropping into one of shock and stupid curiosity. There stood a tall handsome-challenged boy, with a fat toddler standing beside him.

He coughed, then spoke. "Um excuse me, but is this the house of Iwasara Inuka Fujiyoshi-san?" Ino stared at them blankly, and Tenten was peering over her shoulder to see who it was.

"Um...sorry, Iwa-who? I don't think there is anyone around here with that name; trust me, I'd remember." She moved, so that Tenten would stop straining herself to see. The boy and toddler laughed, and poofed into a cloud of smoke. In their place stood Shikamaru and Chouji, both grinning.

"I don't think I know of anyone with that name either…It was Chouji's invention actually." grinned Shikamaru. Ino and Tenten laughed as well, and Ino gave Shikamaru a welcoming hug.

"So…are we going to go to the festival at last Shika?" Ino asked playfully.

"Yeah, sorry about the wait, but there was an all you can eat buffet at the BBQ place…and well, Chouji couldn't resist." Ino looked (or more accurately, gave him an accusing glance) at Chouji, who stared at the sky innocently.

"Chouji, you need to stop eating everywhere you see food." chastised Ino.

"Sorry Ino, but they were serving this new flavour! Teriyaki! It makes everything taste a whole lot better! Yum!" Ino smiled and gave Chouji a small hug too.

"Should we get going then?" Asked Tenten after greeting the two boys. They all nodded, and began walking over to the festival.

The festival area was a splash of colour on otherwise dark streets. There were lanterns in every shape imaginable, and the aroma of deliciously prepared foods wafted over them, as did the fragrance of perfumes and other scents from various booths. There was an air of excitement as people tried their luck at the many different games available, and the underlying thrum of the musical performances.

"I swear, it gets more and more extravagant every year!" Ino sighed happily. Chouji was already sidestepping away from the group, following his nose to more of his favourite teriyaki BBQ among other things. Ino held Shikamaru's hand, and turned to Tenten, to ask what she thought about the festival. Tenten however, wasn't paying attention. A ghost of a movement had captured her eyes, and she peered at the dark shadows intently. Ino looked as well, but she couldn't see anyone.

"Um…come on Tenten. I don't think there is anything there, and besides we have this wonderful festival to enjoy!" Ino said, pulling her arm. Tenten gave one last look and was about to follow Ino, when she noticed two purple dots glowing from the shadows of the trees. One of the dots went out, but then reappeared; a wink. Tenten's face broke into a grin, and she laughed quietly, before running to the tree, and hugging the owner of the pale purple eyes.

"Neji…I didn't think that you would make it!" She murmured softly. Neji gave a small grin.

"I was waiting here for you ever since 5:30 pm, watching each and every person coming into the festival to find you." Tenten looked surprised, but hugged him even tighter.

"We would have been here at 6, but Chouji had to eat at an all you can eat BBQ place, so that's what delayed Shika and him from coming sooner." Neji broke the hug after a few minutes and pulled something out of his yukata. Tenten looked at him questioningly, and watched as he presented her with a small velvet box. She took it and opened it gently. Inside was a small diamond shaped pendant, with the character 'destiny' engraved in the middle. The edges were framed with amethyst and opal jewels, which sparkled beautifully.

"To celebrate when we first became an item, an official couple and actually got together; on this day, at this very festival. Tenten, you showed me that destiny is not always unkind, and I'm ever grateful that we were meant to be." Neji said quietly and sincerely.

Tenten gazed in adoration at Neji. _'Aww…this is why I love him. He is so thoughtful, gentle and sensitive, and he says the nicest things a girl would ever want to hear, and actually means every word.'_

"Oh Neji, I love it! And as for my gift…well, it's not as elegant as yours, but it has as much thought and love in it, I promise you." Tenten whispered, bringing her face closer to his.

"Hey, Ino, are we gonna wait for them or do you want to go ahead?" Shikamaru asked. It was already way past his sleeping time; though for Ino he didn't mind. However, he didn't want to waste his sacrifice standing at the entrance of an inviting festival. "No no, let's go. I'm sure they will want to be together anyways." Shika nodded and offered her his hand. She took it, and they walked together to one of the many booths, ready to have a good time at the festival.

They walked by the BBQ place, where Chouji was already chowing down half the restaurant. A serving girl watched him slyly out of the corner of her eye, and had to stifle a giggle when he sneezed and blew the last chunk of meat off the grill and onto the floor. He looked at it sadly, because he hated to waste the last piece of any food, which was always the best. The girl walked over to the glum Chouji, and placed some more meat on the grill, adding more spices, flavourings and whatnot to make it taste even more mouth-wateringly delicious. Chouji smiled thankfully, and picked up his chopsticks, then paused before he was about to dig in and asked if the girl would like to eat with him, and she enthusiastically accepted. She added a few more pieces for herself, and took out a pair of chopsticks to eat with. As soon as the meat had been done perfectly, they both began to eat, talking happily with each other between bites.

Farther along the street, Asuma and Kurenai were part of a group of people listening to the upbeat music being performed, and admiring the skill of the singers who sounded amazing. Kurenai's head leaned on Asuma's shoulder, but before she could get comfortable, he pulled away and offered her his hand. She took it puzzled, and blushed when she realized he wanted her to dance. Seeing this, other people around them began to dance as well, and the group played a soft yet soothing slow song to keep with the spirit of the crowd.

Two booths down on the opposite side of the street, Anko was tugging on the arm of Kakashi, trying to get him to win something for her.

"Kakashi, stop reading that book, and try out one of these games! Surely a ninja like you can win something for me…so I will remember you when I see it." Anko said playfully.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "If there's an Icha Icha Paradise game booth, then I'd definitely go!" He pretended to look around.

"But I don't see one. Sorry!"

Anko put her hands on her hips. "Hmph! What can you see anyways, with that mask covering 80 percent of your face? …Oh! Why don't we go get some sake instead?" Anko suggested.

"Hmm…ok. But you're not going to be able to make me remove my mask, which is no doubt your intention." Kakashi said with a grin (she couldn't see because of that mask).

Anko stuck her tongue out playfully. "We'll see! I'll never give up until I've seen your face without that mask!" she said. They slowly made their way to a comfortable looking bar Anko had pointed out, holding each other lovingly.

In a semi-deserted area of the festival, Shino lay on a tatami mat (who knows how he got that from nowhere, maybe the bugs) gazing at the stars through his shades. The fireworks had begun, and he was only one of the many people who had stopped to admire them.

"The red shooting stars look extremely pretty, don't they Shuya? The way they are intertwined, and fade together is spectacular. However, before they completely fade, they sparkle one last time. Truly a masterpiece…though its beauty is only rivaled by your own, my dear Shuya." Shino said in his quiet voice.

"Did you have fun today? Its not often we are able to get time alone together, what with all the others constantly buzzing about, though we are never truly alone, if you think about it. But anyways, I hope you had fun, and I promise to be able to spend more time with you ok?" Shino turned to look at Shuya, and she buzzed and fluttered closer to him, allowing him to pet her delicate wings. (AN: Yes Shuya is a bug. Haha, but tou king of expected it right?)

Last but not least, we have our two handsome green beasts of Konoha. No, they didn't manage to find dates for the festival, but they were still having an enjoyable time, and incidentally they were the centre of attention. Gai and Lee stood amidst a large crowd, performing stunts and tasks that seemed too impossible to be possible. The crowd around them kept shouting suggestions and asking if they could perform certain feats, such as eating 10 pounds of BBQ in one shot, winning a game at a booth with only their feet, walking blindfolded through a crowd without hitting anyone, vanishing and reappearing at a different spot instantly, making copies of themselves, and many more. Of course, since they were ninjas, they didn't find these challenges too challenging, but when their ninja techniques failed to help them, they were forced to improvise. With each success, the crowd became more enthusiastic and the challenges became more complex. Gai and Lee didn't mind at all though, because they found it as a good opportunity to show off their amazing power of youth.

Many, many hours later, the people began to disperse, and return to their homes. Booth owners were packing up their merchandise and equipment, and restaurant owners were closing. The performers packed their instruments, and made their way out of the festival grounds. The lanterns were also taken down, casting the streets into darkness once more.

Sakura was still asleep, curled up in the hollow by the roots of the Sakura tree. A strong gust of wind blew the branches, causing them to sway, and the figure on the branches to move with them. He still remained in the same position that he had been in ever since Sakura had arrived, and had rerun his plan through his mind at least 50 times, give or take 100. He wanted to make sure that his entrance was flawless, because there was a lot he had to answer for and he didn't want to risk anything that would jeopardize the success of his plan.

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the long wait! Blame school. Yes. Anyways. we will make sure to update A LOT sooner, because we're sure you're wondering who that mysterious stranger in the trees is….unless you know already (wink wink) so next chapter Sakura meets with the mysterious tree stranger!


	5. Ch 4: The Truth

**:** Hello everyone! We're back! And kicking! Yea, it's been a veeeery long time since our last update, but please forgive us! We'll be trying to post at least twice more over this break to make up for it!

**crimsonrose88: **Hey I never agreed to that! (stares at animefanatic)

**:** Pretty please? (puppy dog eyes)

**crimsonrose88:**….that looks mildly disgusting but I suppose we'll try our best to do it

**:** Yayyy! (by the way, that was all just me talking…crimsonrose is never that mean) This chappie goes out to reesa, who sent us a real nive review. Thanks reesa! I hope we don't disappoint you! Anyway, we do not own Naruto and now, read, enjoy and review please!

Chapter 4 - The Truth

The sun shone brightly, with birds chirping and flying in the blue sky accented with a few floating clouds. The soft breeze rustled the branches of the Sakura tree, under which our pink haired kunoichi slept.

After spending a restless night in the treetop, and cramping every muscle in his body trying to balance smoothly on the branch, the mysterious stranger leapt off as soon as the faint rays of the approaching sun shone in the sky. He stretched and sat a few feet away, occasionally looking at Sakura, waiting for her to wake up.

Once the sun shone brightly enough to warm her face and hit her eyes, Sakura began to move, stretching and rubbing her eyes awake. She wiped away the salty tracks of her tears when she had been crying the night before, and breathed deeply to calm her mind. As she looked around at the peaceful surroundings, she saw something that marred its picturesque beauty, and stared.

Alerted by her movements, the stranger got up in one fluid motion, and walked over to her slowly, carefully reading her expressions.

"Haruno." Sasuke said, extending a hand to her.

"Traitor." she said bitterly, ignoring his hand and getting up on her own. Questions leapt to her mind, but she decided to keep quiet until he explained himself.

Sasuke noticed her piercing stare, and sighed. He knew that he had a lot of explaining to do, for the way he acted and for his desertion of Konoha, not to mention the emotional scar that he had left his friends with.

"You might want to sit back down. My story won't be short." Sasuke muttered quietly. She stared at him, one eyebrow raised then she fell back down adjusting herself against the tree.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I was ready to return? Not as a Konoha ninja of course, but as a comrade and ally of Konoha? I've got my own little group now and I think it would be unwise to abandon them. Things have changed. I've changed. Ever since I left, I joined Orochimaru, yes, but I realized he was not as great as I was led to believe. I killed him and formed my own group, with some other ninjas I'd met. We've fought together, learned about each other and now form a flawless team, that I'm proud of-"

"And your girlfriend is part of your team, correct?" Sakura sniffed; clearly she was remembering the possessive way that the other girl had sat with him at the festival booth.  
Sasuke looked faintly confused for a moment, then mildly disgusted.

"That's Karin. Yes, she is part of my team but no she is not my girlfriend. She is very possessive as you've noticed, and I'm aware of all her little ploys and tricks to try and get me. It gets annoying after awhile, but she's pretty useful to our group, with her special abilities and all that. She also constantly annoys one of my other members, providing us with no shortage of entertainment; though I tend to step in if she gets aggravated into a killing mood." Sasuke mentioned dryly.

Sakura laughed scornfully. "Ah, the curse of the Uchiha clan. Even out in the wilderness, there are no shortage of girls who would hand their precious hearts to you are there?" Sakura suddenly became a little too quiet, as she mentally berated herself for letting some of her emotion slip out. She hoped Sasuke wouldn't notice, but internally cringed when she saw the look of understanding in his eyes.

"Sakura…I did what I thought was right back then. Sure I realize my mistakes and I understand how I impacted everyone else. But there is no way you could understand what I was going through. I was obsessed and deluded with my avenger's attitude, but my desertion helped me to think more clearly, and now I realize things that escaped me before. And also, I'm…sorry. For leaving you like that and acting the way I did…" He trailed off, leaning his head slightly forward so that his hair covered his face. Sakura looked a little taken aback, but she recognized the sincerity in his voice and softened slightly.

"You know, just because you said that doesn't mean that I'm going to forget everything and pretend everything's back to normal…but I am willing to accept your change of heart, without freaking out over it. Speaking of freaking out, are you planning to tell all this to Naruto?" Sakura asked as she sat cautiously next to him.

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. _"Naruto…there's my problem. After everything I've done to him, all the times we fought and I've crushed him and his resolve…its going to be difficult facing him. And all he was trying to do was save a friend…"  
_

"You should tell Tsunade-sama as well, you know. Not to mention all the other guys, and Kakashi, and whoever else needs to know." Sakura said quietly.

"If I knew it would be this troublesome coming back, I doubt I would have…if it weren't for you though I would have probably left with my group. I'd been toying with the idea of forming an allegiance with Konoha, but I wasn't sure how it would work out, or if it was even worth it. Now that you know, I guess the time to reveal myself is now."

Sakura got up, and motioned for Sasuke to do the same. They walked back down the trail and headed in the direction of the village. "Oh…just out of curiosity, did you end up finding your brother? Or is your plan for revenge still on?" Sakura asked tentatively; she didn't want to push it, not when Sasuke had just come clean with her. Sasuke looked faintly surprised at the random question, but responded slowly. "Yes, I did find Itachi. I-I was told things about him that I never thought were possible. I understand more about him, but its also confused me as well…Its something I need to think about alone."

Sakura glanced at him sideways, noticing how much more rational Sasuke seemed to be. In fact, she thought smirking slightly, he seemed to be acting more like Itachi; calm, pondering, smart, deadly. She didn't mention any of her thoughts though, not wanting to be killed by Sasuke. He might not be 'death-to-Itachi' obsessed, but she doubted he would appreciate being compared to him. Silence hung around the two ninjas as if they were in their own world. Finally, Sakura turned her back to Sasuke and started walking back towards to village.

"Sakura…" Sasuke called out to the kunoichi but she ignored him. He knew she wasn't mad at him anymore, Sakura could never stay mad at him. Maybe she just needed some time to calm down after hearing his explanation. He shadowed her footsteps and started to call her name again when she stopped.

Suddenly, the powerful kunoichi turned around and punched him across the face. Stunned, Sasuke staggered backwards a little, staring at her in shock. Since when was she this strong? He could hear ringing sounds in his head. Sakura smirked at him and examined her fist to see if any damage had been done.

"That feels better, now let's say we head back and see how Naruto will react when he gets to listen to your story." Sakura finally gave him a smile that the old Sakura he knew had, then headed towards the village again. Wordlessly, he trailed after her.

Naruto dropped his bowl of ramen and Hinata looked up in surprise. Naruto never let go of his ramen. NEVER.

"Na-Naruto-kun…" she started to stutter, but he paid no attention to her. Hinata followed his gaze and gasped in surprise as well. She felt faint on her feet and sat down on the ground. Naruto heard the thump she made but uncharacteristically did not turn to comfort her. He just stared at his long-time-ago nakama fiercely. Hinata looked up again, and was shocked to hear him growling.

"Naruto-chan," Sakura stepped in front of the seething kyuubi to prevent him from trying to attack Sasuke.

"No Sakura," A hand tapped her shoulder and she turned in surprise to see Sasuke stopping her with some emotion-regret, or was it a competitive fire- reflected in his eyes. Either case, she got the message and bowed her head in acceptance of the fight that was bound to start. They had seperated with a fight, now they were going to reunite after one as well.

"TEME!!" Naruto didn't waste any time. He quickly multiplied himself with the shadow clone jutsu and surrounded Sasuke, who dissapeared and reappeared again on a nearby tree. The Uchiha clan's last member formed the chidori and charged towards Naruto. To retaliate, he formed the Rasengan. Both of the ninjas' attacks clashed and exploded. Sakura quickly went to Hinata and rescued the poor girl who had fainted from the shock, and retreated to a safe distance where she laid the girl down. Smoke covered the entire battle area, but as the wind blew it away, both boys were still clearly unrelenting to the other. This went on for about another two hours and round ten was about to start when Sakura thought that they had had enough of blowing steam off. She was getting ticked off, what if Hinata had really been hurt? Naruto hadn't even noticed! Well that was to be expected, but she didn't expect them to conintue to be oblivious to their surroundings for so long. God, boys are one track simpletons (N/A: no offense to all you dudes).

"That's ENOUGH guys!" She dashed towards the middle of the fight and deflected shurikens from both sides. However, she missed one that had been in her blind spot, and it scratched her stomach, tearing her clothing. Oh, now Sakura was pissed, it was a new shirt for goodness sakes. "I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" She charged towards Naruto and gave him a hard knock to the head, then did a 180 and slapped Sasuke across his face (poor Sasuke, being victimized by Sakura's strength twice in a row). Both of her former teammates stared at her as she towered over them like a scary landlady asking the tenants for their monthly rental fees. "Naruto, go apologize to Hinata for ruining your date and take her home! Sasuke, go back to your little gang and come back after you think Naruto's cooled down!"

After both boys had taken their leave, Sakura decided to go eat. As ticked off as she had been, she knew that her deepest wish had come true. Sasuke was back, and tomorrow, Naruto would probably listen to Sasuke's story. Everything would go back to the way it was. At least, she hoped so. Nostalgic memories flooded her mind as she slurped the ever so delicious ramen and she stopped in surprise when she tasted salt. Silent tears were running down her face.

Ino passed by and caught sight of a familiar back sitting alone. She was on her way to meet Shikamaru and Choji but she decided that they could wait, she wanted to tease Sakura a little, and to share her joyful experiences, rub it in her long-time friend's face.

"Yo big forehea—" Ino looked at Sakura's wet face and all thoughts went out of her head. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but she knew that only one person could make Sakura shed tears. She would question the pink-haired kunoichi later, but for now, Ino just pulled Sakura close to her and let her tears stain her clothing.

"Whatever the hell you've been doing, I know you've given it your best for now. You're strong, but if you ever need to relieve some stress, come bother me all right? I don't need you exploding one day from bottling everything up," Ino muttered as she soothed Sakura.

Sakura looked up at Ino and wiped her tears, but her eyes were still glistening. "Thanks Ino-pig. But you know what? I'm actually not stressed at all. Well. Maybe a little, but that's not the point. Everyone gets stressed. Point is, Sasuke's back."

Ino's mouth dropped open. "WHAAAAATTT?!!"

Sasuke went to the see Tsunade. He knew that she would go looking for him sooner or later anyway. He went to her office and knocked on the door. There was nobody else around –lucky for him, or maybe he chose that time to visit the Hokage because he knew the others would be away- and nobody answered the door. Sasuke knocked again and still no answer. His eyebrow started twitching from impatience but heck, what else could he do? And so Sasuke waited…and waited….for two minutes. Then he heard a sound from inside the office. Wondering what it could be, he opened the door and found….

**:** And that's that folks!

**crimsonrose88:** We'll try to update asap!


	6. Ch 5: Meeting

**crimsonrose88:** Hello everyone! As promised, we're updating more frequently over the holidays!

**:** Yep! *cheers* So enjoy everyone! We don't own Naruto!

Chapter 5-Meeting

Sasuke knocked on the door a few more times, getting impatient when no one responded. He turned to leave when he heard a curious sound. He paused, there it was again, and it seemed to be coming from the office. He opened the door cautiously and found…a sight that would be permanently etched in his precious eyes forever.

Tsunade was there all right, but there was another figure with her. Jiraiya held Tsunade close, lip-locked. She ran her hands through his hair, and he swept his arm around, knocking a sheaf of papers off the desk carelessly.

"…Jiraiya…" Tsunade moaned quickly and lustfully as they broke for air. Their faces were red, their eyes filled with love. Sasuke stood transfixed by the door, resisting the urge to tear his eyes out; wearing a look of shock and mild disgust.

'What the crap?…Aren't they like 60 years old…is that even legal?' He decided to visit at a more appropriate time, and left, glad to be unnoticed; things were awkward enough. Or so he thought. As he backed out the door, he was nearly knocked over from behind, as Naruto stampeded into the room, face still sporting bruises from their earlier fight.

"Tsunade baa-chan, you will NEVER believe who I just saw! Sasuke-" Naruto gaped at the scene in front of him; Tsunade and Jiraiya were sprawled on the desk red-faced, and Sasuke was twitching by the wall, trying to escape.

"WHAT THE HELL? PERVY SAMA! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING WITH GRANNY?" Jiraiya coughed awkwardly; apparently this was not the way he expected things to go. No duh. He cleared his throat, attempting to fool Naruto with a very convincing lie, but he needn't have bothered.

"OH MY EYES! I'M SCARRED FOR LIFE, ALL THANKS TO YOU! WHY COULDN'T YOU GET A ROOM OR SOMETHING?" Naruto continued to howl, trailing into silence when words failed to describe the apparent horror of seeing your sensei make out with the Hokage; not to mention that they were a bit old for 'playful' fun. Once he calmed down, and Tsunade had resumed her position behind her now cleared desk (Jiraiya having escaped though the conveniently located windows), Naruto noticed Sasuke.

"YOU! TEME!" He shouted, a finger pointed at Sasuke. '_I've been standing here for a half hour…is he really that unobservant?' _Sasuke inwardly rolled his eyes, arms crossed, and a cold, bored look etched onto his Uchiha features. Tsunade, getting really pissed off at Naruto's constant shouting, massaged her temples and glared at him until he would explain himself.

'_And it better be good to make up for ruining my evening…Wait, is that Sasuke…? Since when did he…' _Sasuke noticed Tsunade's gaze turned on him, and the look of comprehension in her eyes, as if she hadn't noticed him before. '_…Right…apparently Naruto's not the only one…'_

"Sasuke…" she whispered. As if that was his cue, Naruto started: "Granny, isn't it suspicious that he's returned? After what he-we- went through when he was leaving…why has he decided to come back now?" Naruto glared and leaned back against the wall.

Tsunade looked at him surprised. "Naruto! But weren't you the one who wanted to get Sasuke back? Saying you would never rest until he was back in Konoha?"

"I did…but this isn't Sasuke, He isn't the same Sasuke I loved as a brother and would do anything for; this is just Orochimaru's puppet; and I hate anything to do with Orochimaru." Naruto glowered and walked out the door. Sasuke looked at his retreating figure, feeling a slight twinge- was it guilt? Remorse?

Tsunade sighed, and looked at Sasuke expectantly. "I think you know what happens next." She waved her hand lazily, and Kotetsu and Izumo appeared, along with Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo; all three bound. Karin looked at Kotetsu with lidded eyes, and blew him a coy kiss, while he looked around uneasily, and a little creeped.

'_Doesn't take much for Karin to take advantage of any guy…especially in a situation like this.' _Suigetsu thought. He and Juugo looked impassively at Sasuke, who barely made any sign of acknowledging his bound team-mates.

"Sasuke…lay your cards down. Why did you return?"

Sasuke's gaze lingered on his team-mate's faces, before he quietly began to speak. "With Orochimaru dead, I have no reason to be an enemy of Konoha. I got what I wanted, and destroyed a threat to Konoha. You should be grateful. My team and I are ready to form an alliance with Konoha; I'm sure we will be valuable allies with you."

Tsunade pondered his words. "So you only returned to form an allegiance? No other reasons?"

Sasuke's eyes turned cold. "None." he said in a low voice. Tsunade looked at him deeply, as if trying to determine any dishonesty; Sasuke meeting her gaze with an impassive stare of his own. After minutes, she sighed and closed her eyes. Izumo and Kotetsu released the three members and the stood warily beside Sasuke. Tsunade waved a hand, granting his dismissal, and the four ninja left, with the Uchiha in front.

"So…is she one of them?" Suigetsu asked curiously.

"Shut up moron! Do you honestly have nothing for a brain? I knew fish were stupid but still! We don't need you ruining this for Sasuke." Karin whispered vehemently.

"Lay off, woman!" Suigetsu retorted angrily. "It was a simple question, and I don't think it was directed to you in the first place." Sasuke silenced them with a glare, motioning them to a deep underground cavern.

"It's a dead end…" Karin stated.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." replied Suigetsu dryly.

Karin riled up instantly. "You know what? I'm so tired of dealing with your shit all the time! What the hell is your problem?"

Suigetsu tossed his hair, and pretended to do an over exaggerated impression of Karin. "Look at me, the Sasuke obsessed pms-ing woman of this team! My goals? To ravage Sasuke and any other male I like, annoy Suigetsu to death, oh! And fulfill my role as a pms-ing teammate because the world honestly doesn't have enough people like me to brighten things up." Suigetsu ended with a twisted smile, and smirked at the fury emanating off Karin.

"Sasuke…your team is about to become a trio." She said dangerously. Suigetsu liquefied and melded into the floor, as she pulled out two kunai. She was about to throw them, when Juugo caught her arms. She glared at him, and relented, when he refused to let go. Suigetsu solidified on the ceiling, dropping lightly beside Sasuke, a smirk etched on his face. Sasuke ignored them as usual, and activated his Sharingan. Searching the blank wall, he found what he was looking for; a small print, which was shaped in the form of a handprint. He pushed his hand against it, and loosed a stream of his chakra; the chakra of an Uchiha. The wall opened slowly, to reveal a narrow passage, ending in a widened chamber. Sasuke walked through, letting out a fire jutsu as he did so. All the candles and torches instantly lit up, guiding their way.

"This is an antechamber of the Uchiha clan. Our passages run many under the village; and only an Uchiha that possesses the Sharingan can enter. There is a point, which changes location on the wall each time, where the chakra of an Uchiha must be inserted, in order to open the passage. The Sharingan is needed to determine where that location is."

Suigetsu turned his head as Karin immediately swooned over Sasuke's coolness; her rage forgotten. '_And that, people, is an example of a bipolar person.' _Suigetsu thought sarcastically. Sasuke seated himself in the throne-like stone while the others assembled around him.

"Here, we can talk safely without fear of being overheard." Sasuke said quietly.

Suigetsu nodded, and repeated his previous question: "Is she one of them?" Sasuke shook his head.

"No…she's the Hokage. There are only three we are after, and she isn't one of them. The two elders we're after are going to be difficult to find, and the other one, Danzo, is the leader of an organization of ANBU known as the Root." Sasuke knew that nothing was making sense to his team, judging by their blank stares. He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Ok…let me explain to you from the beginning…"  
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Sakura waited anxiously outside the Hokage building for Naruto. She wasn't sure how things would turn out, but she knew that Tsunade would help sort things out. She perked up when she heard footsteps, but faltered when she noticed the glowering look on his face. Unsure of whether to approach him in such a dark mood, she lightly fell in step with him, encouraged by the fact that he didn't try to shake her off.

"Naruto…" She said warmly. No reply. "…What happened? Why did Sasuke come back?"

"…I don't know."

She stared. "You don't know? But you must have-" He increased his speed, so that she had to jog to keep up.

"I left." And with that he jumped into the trees, leaving her behind, confused.

"O-ok…that could have gone better…Just what did happen?" Curiosity getting the better of her, Sakura walked back to the Hokage, determined to get some answers out of her no matter what.

**crimsonrose88:** Next chapter! Sakura and Tsunade! And how the others will react to Sasuke's return! And what the hell was Hawk talking about! Wait for our update to get a clearer picture.

**:** And Happy Early New Years everyone!


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